RoyalDude wrote: You have it spot on regarding Higgins, he has been a journeyman in his 10 years of pro hockey for a reason, I believe we are his 5th or 6th team. He is a disposable player and we most likely witnessed his complete no show in the playoffs as to being why he has played on so many teams in his short NHL career.

Yet he makes only 1.9M, and gave us 43 points in 71 games. That's a 50 point (projected) season, pal. Which makes your defence of Raymond funny. Because Higgins is a better hockey player. He's more effective on the wall, and he doesn't fall down 7 times per period. He's also cheaper, and can play in the bottom-6.

I hate this love fest for Malhotra, it's the Trevor Linden/Trent Klatt syndrome with fans here, "good guy, great speaker, good in the community, good with the fans, good with teamates, local hero - Steve Nash's brother in law, it's like that all somehow equates to his play on the ice. I DON'T CARE ABOUT WHAT ANYONE IS LIKE OFF THE ICE, I COULD CARE LESS HOW MANY TIMES MALHOTRA SITS ON THE CRAPPER IN A DAY....he sucks on the ice, plain and simple.

We should have cut him the day after he nearly went blind. That would've shown everyone. You can't play, or get hurt playing for this team, fuck you... gone! But wait... Raymond suffers a FAR less serious injury and it's a legit excuse for him (even though we all know he wasn't playing well before he kinked his back).

Seriously, you all know how I feel about David 'one play' Booth.

LOL. Mason Raymond has one play, and it involves a button hook, followed by a seamless transition into a fall on his ass, usually avoiding any physical contact.

I just get a laugh at how this 2.5 million dollar man with the bad back became everybody's scapegoat. I will say this, Raymond's salary should not make him an issue..

So you lay into guys that make less (Malhotra, Higgins, Lapierre) than Raymond? I don't think anyone is saying Raymond's salary is prohibitive, he just brings nothing to this team. All the guys you hate bring something to the table. At least Malhotra can win a face-off, Higgins can win a puck battle, and Lapierre can fuck with people. What does Raymond do, besides skate fast? Brandon Reid could skate fast...

RoyalDude wrote:Excellent set of questions, Lalji, this might have to be a 3,4,5 parter in response(s) to your multitude of inquiries. First off, I'd be pretty much repeating myself so I am not so sure why you demand this of me, it's not like you've heard this before.

Hey RD,

I was more curious to see what you'd personally do to shape this team........and lead you to happiness? lol. I am familiar with most of your viewpoints/criticisms, etc., but wasn't too familiar with your solutions (other than to do to Kesler what Philly did to Richards). I was just curious.

Come on Lalji, RIck Nash??? What's with the obsession of getting players from consistently shitty hockey teams. Hasn't Nash been there from the beginnning. He is not a winner/leader and that fucking salary? That is why I call him Rick 'Dany Heatly' Nash, the fire is no longer there for these players or at least meeting their massive paycheques. The Rangers are the perfect fit for Nash, home of the overbloated contracts on hasbeen/oncewas hockey players.

I'll add one last thing about the Blonde Bible bimbo before getting to Nash.

David Booth might have some obvious shortcomings, but it was a pretty good deal considering what we gave up (i.e. a past-his-prime Samuelson, and a VERY past-his-prime Marco Sturm). If I recall correctly, Booth outperformed both players this season.

On to Nash - I'm just not seeing the Heatley/Nash comparison. For one thing, Heatley is 31 years old while Nash will turn 28 in a few days. That's still atleast 5+ years of "in-his-prime" hockey left for Nash.

Another thing - Heatley has played with a decent supporting cast for most of his career. Although Atlanta sucked b[mod edit], he played alongside Kovalchuk. When he got traded to Ottawa, he had Spezza and Alfredson...........and made a run to the cup.

He then moved to San Jose where he played alongside Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Logan Couture, and Joe Pavelski.......and made 2 conference final appearances.

Bottom line? Heatley, 31, has played with a number of insanely talented players while also experiencing extensive playoff hockey.

Rick Nash, 27.99999, has played with clowns for most of his career.......unless you consider a highly disinterested Jeff Carter a "talented player." Nash has had almost zero playoff experience. The only time he tasted playoff hockey was when the BJ's played the Wings and basically gave them a nice and quick [mod edit].

Heatley, 31, with his extensive playoff experience, might be at a stage in his life where he is resting on his laurels. Nash on the other hand, is 27.999, unproven, and horny. The guy is literally itching to go to a strong team and make an impact.

If Nash was an unmotivated sloth, why do you think he wants out of Columbus?

Lastly - the Canucks have a use for Nash. As we all know, the Canucks biggest reason for losing to Boston and LA, was a lack of top 6 scoring. This can either be addressed in one of two ways. One - add someone to play with Kesler on the 2nd line (forming a co#1 in effect), OR........making the Sedin line so dominant, that even a concerted effort on theopposing teams' part to focus their top 'D' and/or shut down center on the twins will not work (i.e. Sedin-Sedin-SuperstarPowerForward proves to be too much to contain for even guys like Chara, Doughty, Keith, Seabrook, Marchand, Bolland, etc.).

Sedin-Sedin-Nash (putting Nash with the twins allows for the perfect blend of playmakers to play with a sniper/PWF). Burrows-Kesler-LapierreHiggins-Pahlson-BoothHansen-Volpatti-Kassian

So, in short Nuckleclown...you are pretty much happy with everyone on the starting line-up other than Raymond and that the real reason why the Presidents Trophy winning team and last years Stanley Cup finalist was knocked in the first round in just 5 games from the inability to generate any offense was purely because of Raymond and that if Raymond wasn't on the team the outcome would have been different. You must have been that guy who called in to 1040 yesterday crying his eyes out threatening that if Raymond is with the team this coming season, he is going to hand in his season tickets, never watch another Canucks game EVER!!! Selling all his jerseys etc. BTW, I've never laughed so hard when I heard this guy. Poor Raymond and his payroll killing 2.5 million, everybody's scapegoat. I guess we need to put a face on blame don't we? How about this, the only three people that showed up against the Kings were Henrik Sedin, Corey Schneider and Roberto Luongo. Please explain why your hero's Higgins and 4.5 million Booth decided to phone it in against the Kings?

Malhotra's injury was waaaaay worse than Raymonds???? Um, is this a contest of injuries? The bottom line Nucklegoof, Raymonds and Malhotra's injuries were bad. Me, I just can't stand Manny 'Ryan Johnson' Malhotra and truly, much to everyone's surprise I ain't a huge fan of Raymond, I just think it's fucking hilarious how he is everyone's scapegoat bitch, like that caller on 1040, that's all who you Raymond babies remind me of. "I'M NEVER WATCHING ANOTHER CANUCKS GAME AGAIN!!!! Fucking hilarious shit that.

"I just want to say one word to you. Just one word. Are you listening? - Plastics." - The Graduate

I'll add one last thing about the Blonde Bible bimbo before getting to Nash.

David Booth might have some obvious shortcomings, but it was a pretty good deal considering what we gave up (i.e. a past-his-prime Samuelson, and a VERY past-his-prime Marco Sturm). If I recall correctly, Booth outperformed both players this season.

Um no, Samuelsson was actually one of Florida's top players in the playoffs and the stretch run leading to the Samuelsson. You see, at least Samuelsson's shows up when it counts, I guess that comes from years of playing in the Red Wings organization. There were too many birds tweeting in David 'Airtool' Booths head during the Kings series. If you look at the economics of the deal which was pretty much why Florida made the deal, was to clear that 'wasted money' off the books. I believe the Panthers are now off the hook of Sturm's and Samuelsson's contracts, aren't they UFA's now. All they had to do was pay them for one year to get off the hook of David Booth's ridiculous 4.5 million dolllar contract. That my friend is the genius of the deal for Tallon. Yup, he sacrificed a 3rd round pick, but don't he have some money to play with now? Sort of like what Gillis didn't have to play with in the Erhoff negotiations cause of the Ballard contract????

"I just want to say one word to you. Just one word. Are you listening? - Plastics." - The Graduate

All I can tell you Lalji, is who are the current players I am keeping on this team, they are -

HankDankKeslerBurrowsHansenEdlerHamhiusBieksaTanev

and one of either of Luongo or Schneider

The rest can fucking go

I love Salo, but he is starting to show his age.

I like Kassian but the kid is so not ready for prime time, he needs some serious maturing. Another full season in the minors would do him good. I actually like Jensen's chances of making the team over Kassian's chances. Our bottom 6 is atrocious, Hansen is the only thing I like in our bottom 6, and we need a quality addition to the top 6 of Kesler, Burrows and the Sedins. We also need a quality addition to defense in the top pairings.

We need to get meaner in the bottom 6 big time, more piss and vinegar and less yapping with the refs in between but also need more offensive creativity there as well. But we seriously need to lose the baby act and yapping after whistles, ie Lappiere, Kelser and Burrows, but I can put up with Kes and Burr cause they help us in other important areas, so I can live with them. Booth, Higgins, Pahlsson, Malhotra, Raymond, Weise, Ebbett ain't mean enough and don't provide enough in other areas. At least the Dane can lay out some nasty hits and has some grit to his game and can create offense, our most versatile forward who doesn't complain over what role is given him.

Gillis has his work cut out for him. FInally, we get to see what kind of GM he is, after hiding behind previous managements core players til now.

"I just want to say one word to you. Just one word. Are you listening? - Plastics." - The Graduate

For some reason - I had you pegged as a Raymond fan (I thought I recall you saying that the Canucks needed more skill up front and Raymond provided that), but I might have mixed you up with someone else.

As much as I loved Manny in the past (no homo), he's gotta go. Ditto for Raymond in my opinion. If it was up to me, I'd keep Pahlsson.

I know you're not a fan of Lapierre, but I actually don't mind the guy. Even though he doesn't know when to shut up, he's an excellent instigator. He hits, plays defensively pretty well, and can score goals on occasion......some of which that comes in big games.

Although I like Edler, I'm a bit disappointed with the guy as well. He can be so much more than he is. I also didn't like how he was 'pussying out' against the Bruins in the finals when forecheckers were closing in on him. He also looked awful during the LA series.

Lastly - good points about Booth/Samuelson. Samuelson did produce for Florida down the stretch, while both Sturm and Sammy are now off of Florida's books.

I think guys like Booth and Higgins can be good players for us (and consistent......not just 'flashes' here and there), but they'll need someone like Kesler (or perhaps a new playmaking center?) to help get those guys going. Higgins-Kesler-Booth did show some pretty good chemistry last year at times. If Kesler is healthy next season, maybe they can re-ignite that?

RoyalDude wrote:All I can tell you Lalji, is who are the current players I am keeping on this team, they are -

HankDankKeslerBurrowsHansenEdlerHamhiusBieksaTanev

and one of either of Luongo or Schneider

The rest can fucking go

I love Salo, but he is starting to show his age.

I like Kassian but the kid is so not ready for prime time, he needs some serious maturing. Another full season in the minors would do him good. I actually like Jensen's chances of making the team over Kassian's chances. Our bottom 6 is atrocious, Hansen is the only thing I like in our bottom 6, and we need a quality addition to the top 6 of Kesler, Burrows and the Sedins. We also need a quality addition to defense in the top pairings.

We need to get meaner in the bottom 6 big time, more piss and vinegar and less yapping with the refs in between but also need more offensive creativity there as well. But we seriously need to lose the baby act and yapping after whistles, ie Lappiere, Kelser and Burrows, but I can put up with Kes and Burr cause they help us in other important areas, so I can live with them. Booth, Higgins, Pahlsson, Malhotra, Raymond, Weise, Ebbett ain't mean enough and don't provide enough in other areas. At least the Dane can lay out some nasty hits and has some grit to his game and can create offense, our most versatile forward who doesn't complain over what role is given him.

Gillis has his work cut out for him. FInally, we get to see what kind of GM he is, after hiding behind previous managements core players til now.

Finally. He gives an opinion.

A good one at that. You essentially keep the core intact, but change the peripherals.

Gillis got Hamhuis and Tanev. He extended the Sedins, Kesler, Bieksa, and Hansen. All good moves.

He picked up Lapierre, also a good move. Lap might yap alot, but every team does need that to a degree, and Yappy Lappy is fine as a 4th line center, especially when you see his compete level and what he produced on a line with Henrik when Daniel was out hurt. His contract is quite reasonable. If he tones down some of the antics I think he's a keeper in the bottom 6. Opponents hate him and hate it when he's on the ice.

Booth is still a question mark in my books. He didn't meet the expectations we had for him, but he didn't get much for PP time, and you are right, he is fairly one-dimensional, but it's a good dimension that this team needs to have. I say he gets until January to prove your right and others are wrong or whatever. As far as cap hit goes, well he's par for the course when compared to the rest of the league, but I think that's a bit high for what guys like him are bringing to their team. It's a case of your capable of this so we'll pay you to bring it.....then they don't. Nobody who isn't a playmaker will really succeed on a line with Kesler when RK17 thinks he's supposed to score 40 goals and 70-80 points.

Higgins is fine.....most of the time. He's less than $2M on the cap and is generally good along the wall and responsible at both end of the ice. Not as fast as Raymond, but he's not a pussy like MayRay.

The rest you're right about. Manny has lost his game, but in fairness he played some HARD minutes and was the goto guy on well over half the faceoffs in our zone this year. Raymond can't get it done, he just doesn't have the balls or smarts or something. Pahlsson was a disaster. Weise too soft for the 4th. Ebbet too small for a bottom 6 forward in the NHL, but I credit him with having heart.

The "creativity" you want, Amen. But I think that only happens with a different coach. My above comment about Kesler holds true for this. AV should have seen that Kes won't pass, Booth can't pass, and Raymond/Higgins don't bring anything to offset that, and then got the setup so that Kes doesn't shoot until Booth is actually in a position to do something with the rebound. That actually could be said of alot of the plays we saw from all 4 lines this year. Timing was off, shots coming when the net presence is thin or on the wrong side for a put back etc. I digres.....

Gillis does have his work cut out for him, but if he plays his cards right, and other GMs/players don't screw him up, it's an easy year for him to address this teams needs.

I like MayRay, but I admit that he kind of sucked the last couple seasons. With him going to arbitration, his salary might drop to 1.5-2 mill, which won't be too bad for him. I'm willing to give MayRay 1 more season. Last year was basically a write off for him cuz of coming back from that serious back injury and missing camp and not being able to properly work out/practice and all that jazz. I think we can't really judge him till like 40 games into next season. Hopefully a healthy MayRay with a cut in his salary will make him a hungry player who will burst out with a career year and top his 25 goals.

For some reason - I had you pegged as a Raymond fan (I thought I recall you saying that the Canucks needed more skill up front and Raymond provided that), but I might have mixed you up with someone else.

As much as I loved Manny in the past (no homo), he's gotta go. Ditto for Raymond in my opinion. If it was up to me, I'd keep Pahlsson.

I know you're not a fan of Lapierre, but I actually don't mind the guy. Even though he doesn't know when to shut up, he's an excellent instigator. He hits, plays defensively pretty well, and can score goals on occasion......some of which that comes in big games.

Although I like Edler, I'm a bit disappointed with the guy as well. He can be so much more than he is. I also didn't like how he was 'pussying out' against the Bruins in the finals when forecheckers were closing in on him. He also looked awful during the LA series.

Lastly - good points about Booth/Samuelson. Samuelson did produce for Florida down the stretch, while both Sturm and Sammy are now off of Florida's books.

I think guys like Booth and Higgins can be good players for us (and consistent......not just 'flashes' here and there), but they'll need someone like Kesler (or perhaps a new playmaking center?) to help get those guys going. Higgins-Kesler-Booth did show some pretty good chemistry last year at times. If Kesler is healthy next season, maybe they can re-ignite that?

Regarding Raymond, I think for the money it's no harm in trying him out again. The fans are quick to cast people off for having an off year, ie Bieksa before Salo blew out his achilles heel. Remember everybody was kicking the shit out of KB3 and wanted him out of here like he was the plague, Gillis too. What happens, Salo blows out his acchilles heel and Gillis is forced to keep Bieksa and what happens? Kevin has the best year of his career. Don't be so quick to cast players off. This is why the Edler criticisms drive me crazy, not too long ago he was the 2nd coming of Lidstrom and Norris trophy potential and now you are all casting him off for a bad stretch of hockey. It would be a massive mistake giving up on Edler. But hey, I'm just as guilty at casting players off, ie Booth, Higgins, Malhotra. I'm just not a fan of Malhotra type players, that's all. Ya know, the Ryan Johnson category, outside of face-offs just not much going on there. I don't like Booth's hockey sense, he's dumb plain and simple. Higgins, good guy and all, but if he was just a tad bit nastier, I'd love him. Can't stand Pahlsson. In 11 seasons only one of those seasons he scored over 10 goals, which was 11 goals. Is that what you want as your 3rd line centre? And at his age? Weise is just not mean enough and tough enough to play the role of team tough guy, he's pretty much an Oreskovich Speed Bag for other fighters, I seriously close my eyes when he fights. Ebbett is another Ryan Shannon/Brandon Reid/Steve Kariya/Jeff Tambellini type, why even fucking bother. Between Lappiere, Malhotra and Pahlsson I'm keeping Lappy. I can't stand his antics, all his post whistle antics do is make teams want to really beat us, it's not smart hockey. But I'm keeping him over Malhotra and Pahlsson. Having those 3 in the line-up is completely redundant. Park Lappy on the 4th line and get a quality skilled 3rd line centre, I would really love to somehow get Ryan Johansen out of Columbus and make him our 3rd line centre, big bodied kid with skill and plays with an edge, but that seems to be a pipe dream. I really don't understand why you think Kesler and Booth work well together, but to be honest I don't think Booth meshes well with anyone, he just kind of plays by himself out there, where at least Kesler has the hockey sense, he just really needs to stop with that 'cross the blueline wrister, it is so fucking old'. I got a hunch that Jensen and Schroeder could make the team this year, or one of them. Jensen fucking slayed it in his call up to Chicago at the end of this season and showed real well in training camp last year. He has a big body and seem real patient with the puck and unlike Booth he has anticipation and has his head up. He seems to have some smarts about him and patience. I know I slag Gillis about drafting but Jensen and Hodgson are decent picks and I think one day Kassian will pay off for us but like Jim Sandlak whom I think he is comparable to, I see his development being real slow. Schroeder, we will have to see. What irritates me about Gillis is the Ballard trade, Booth trade and Bernier trade. Just bad moves for this organization. Booth just doesn't suit the type of hockey this team plays, it's too heady for him. We gave up a lot of futures in the Ballard and Bernier trade and the result were failures. Plus, Ballards contract played a big part in putting us out of the Erhoff sweepstakes. I tip my hat for Gillis landing Erhoff the way he did, I am extremely irritated with how he lost him. Now matter how you slice it, Erhoff was such a big part of our overall offense and PP and even Elder's play. I blame a big part of our anemic offense with the loss of Erhoff.

Here is the trade I want to see happen, Schneider for Johansen. Fuck your Nash love, Farhan. Massive contract, massive ego, and really don't care about winning the cup other than padding his own stats. He is such a Dany Heatly type. He is the perfect overbloated contract hasbeen player suited for the Big Apple. The player I want out of Columbus is local Johansen. That's our 3rd line centre and eventual replacement of Hank. Luongo has tons of hockey in him still, 4-5 years I see. Plus he has the mental make-up to put with the fans and media here in the goalie graveyard. I really wonder how Schneider will handle the no. 1 goalie duty now that the spotlight will be squarely focused on him. The pressure meter will seriously rise for him now that he doesn't have the comfort level to sit in the background behind Luongo watching Luongo get all the abuse from the media and fans. I worry for what will happen when Schneider hits a bad spell of playing poorly, we all know how this city can quickly turn on players, especially goalies. I would say, outside of Kirk Maclean, Luongo will go down as one of the best goalies here in being able to deal with the scrutiny put on him by the rabid media and fans here. Plus, we have some good young goalies in the system, so keeping Lou over Corey ain't such a bad thing.

"I just want to say one word to you. Just one word. Are you listening? - Plastics." - The Graduate